---
title: Defaults
---

## Default Options (`defaults`)

These settings define the default behavior for the dashboard. You can override many of these
settings on a per-section basis.

```yaml
defaults:
  issuesLimit: 20
  prApproveComment: LGTM
  preview:
    open: true
    width: 50
  prsLimit: 20
  refetchIntervalMinutes: 30
  view: prs
```

By default, the dashboard is configured to:

- Display the preview pane with a width of 50 columns for all work items.
- Only fetch 20 PRs and issues at a time for each section.
- Display the PRs view when the dashboard loads.
- Refetch PRs and issues for each section every 30 minutes.
- Display dates using relative values.

For more details on the default layouts, see the documentation for [PR] and [issue] layout definitions.

[PR]: /configuration/layout/pr/
[issue]: /configuration/layout/issue/

### Layout Options (`layout`)

This setting defines the layout for the work item tables in the dashboard. You can override
these settings in any section you define in the [`prSections`] or [`issueSections`] settings.

They determine which columns are displayed and how.

[`prSections`]: /configuration/pr-section
[`issueSections`]: /configuration/issue-section

#### PR Section Layout

You can define how a PR section displays items in its table by setting options for the
available columns. You can define a column's width, whether it grows to fill available space,
and whether the column should be visible at all.

Note that if the length of a column's text exceeds the defined column [`width`], the view
truncates the column's text to two characters shorter than the column's width. For example, if
the width is `6`, `gh-dash` displays as `gh-d`.

Column headings have their color defined by the [`theme.colors.text.primary`] setting.

For more information, see [PR Section Layout](/configuration/layout/pr).

[`width`]: /configuration/layout/options
[`theme.colors.text.primary`]: /configuration/theme

#### Issue Section Layout (`issues`)

You can define how an issue section displays items in its table by setting options for the
available columns. You can define a column's width, whether it grows to fill available space,
and whether the column should be visible at all.

Note that if the length of a column's text exceeds the defined column [`width`], the view
truncates the column's text to two characters shorter than the column's width. For example, if
the width is `6`, `gh-dash` displays as `gh-d`.

Column headings have their color defined by the [`theme.colors.text.primary`] setting.

For more information, see [Issue Section Layout](/configuration/layout/issue).

[`width`]: layout.options.width
[`theme.colors.text.primary`]: theme.colors.text.primary

### PR Fetch Limit

| Type    | Minimum | Default |
| :------ | :-----: | :-----: |
| Integer |    1    |   20    |

This setting defines how many PRs the dashboard should fetch for each section when:

- The dashboard first loads.
- The [fetch interval] elapses.
- You navigate to the next PR in a table without another fetched PR to display.
- You use the [refresh current section] or [refresh all sections] commands.

[fetch interval]: #refetch-interval-in-minutes-refetchintervalminutes
[refresh current section]: /getting-started/keybindings/global/#r---refresh-current-section
[refresh all sections]: /getting-started/keybindings/global/#r---refresh-all-sections

### Issue Fetch Limit (`issuesLimit`)

| Type    | Minimum | Default |
| :------ | :-----: | :-----: |
| Integer |    1    |   20    |

This setting defines how many issues the dashboard should fetch for each section when:

- The dashboard first loads.
- The [fetch interval] elapses.
- You navigate to the next issue in a table without another fetched issue to display.
- You use the [refresh current section] or [refresh all sections] commands.

[fetch interval]: #refetch-interval-in-minutes-refetchintervalminutes
[refresh current section]: /getting-started/keybindings/global/#r---refresh-current-section
[refresh all sections]: /getting-started/keybindings/global/#r---refresh-all-sections

### Preview Pane (`preview`)

These settings define how the preview pane displays in the dashboard. You can specify
whether the preview pane is open by default and how many columns wide it should be when

#### Open on Load (`open`)

| Type    | Default |
| :------ | :-----: |
| Boolean |  true   |

Specifies whether the preview pane should be open by default for the selected work item
when the dashboard loads. You can always use the [toggle preview pane] command to
toggle the preview pane's visibility.

By default, the dashboard displays the preview pane.

[toggle preview pane]: /getting-started/keybindings/preview/#p---toggle-preview-pane

#### Preview Pane Width (`width`)

| Type    | Minimum | Default |
| :------ | :-----: | :-----: |
| Integer |    1    |   50    |

Specifies how many columns wide the preview pane should be when displayed.

By default, the preview pane is 50 columns wide.

### Refetch Interval in Minutes (`refetchIntervalMinutes`)

| Type    | Minimum | Default |
| :------ | :-----: | :-----: |
| Integer |    0    |   30    |

This setting defines how often the dashboard should fetch issues and PRs from GitHub. The
dashboard fetches work items for every section in the active view when the dashboard loads
and the first time you switch to the inactive view.

After the dashboard fetches the work items for the first time, it waits until this setting's
defined interval elapses before fetching the work items again.

By default, the dashboard refetches work items every 30 minutes.

To disable the refetching interval set it to 0.

You can always use the [refresh current section] or [refresh all sections] command to
refetch work items in the current view. If you change the search query for a view, the
dashboard fetches results for the updated query immediately.

[refresh current section]: /getting-started/keybindings/global/#r---refresh-current-section
[refresh all sections]: /getting-started/keybindings/global/#r---refresh-all-sections

### Date format (`dateFormat`)

| Type   |  Default   |
| :----- | :--------: |
| String | "relative" |

This setting defines how dates are formatted. The format either be "relative" or a [go time format].

By default, the format is "relative" which fits just inside the default column width of
updated at in the issues and pull request layouts.

You may need to adjust the layout column width depending on your format.

[go time format]: https://pkg.go.dev/time#pkg-constants

### Default View (`view`)

| Type   |     Options     | Default |
| :----- | :-------------: | :-----: |
| String | "prs", "issues" |   20    |

This setting defines whether the dashboard should display the PRs or Issues view when it
first loads.

By default, the dashboard displays the PRs view.

### PR Approval (`prApproveComment`)

| Type   | Default |
| :----- | :-----: |
| String | "LGTM"  |

This setting defines the default comment used as a starting point when [approving a PR].
This can be set as an empty string to not prefill a comment.

By default, the comment is "LGTM".

[approving a PR]: /getting-started/keybindings/selected-pr/#v---approve-pr

## Confirm Quit (`confirmQuit`)

| Type    | Default |
| :------ | :-----: |
| Boolean |  false  |

This setting specifies whether the user needs to confirm when quitting `gh-dash`
When this is on, `gh-dash` shows a prompt that requires the user to press <kbd>y</kbd>/<kbd>Enter</kbd> to actually quit.
Pressing any other key dismisses the message.

By default, dash doesn't need a confirmation.

[approving a PR]: /getting-started/keybindings/selected-pr/#v---approve-pr
